Armenian President breaches strict rules of Royal chamber at Queen's lying-in-state VIDEO

The President of Armenia has copped flak for disrespecting the Queen as he took photos and chatted to aides during a visit to see her lying-in-state in Westminster Hall on September 18 morning.

Vahagn Khachaturyan, an ally of warmongering Russian president Vladimir Putin, was seen bowing at the late monarch's coffin as one of his lackeys snapped some pictures on his mobile phone, according to Daily Mail.

Bystanders meanwhile claimed the Armenian leader was loudly rabbiting on to his entourage as they trundled along the VIP walkway and down to the floor where Queen Elizabeth II's coffin is lying. 

His actions flew in the face of strict rules in the 1,000-year-old chamber which forbid the taking of photos or videos and calls for quiet, respectful behaviour. 

Khachaturyan was seen in June of this year sharing a warm embrace with Putin at a Russian economic conference even as war raged across the border in Ukraine.

One attendee at Westminster Hall told The Sun: "There were hundreds of people in that hall - no one was speaking. Only him. Yap, yap, yap, yap. He clearly planned to have his photo taken."

"He and his aide hold back as the group in front passes the coffin... He knows the rules and would have been told before he went in."

Another angry source said: "Everyone has managed to follow those rules to the very letter - apart from this one individual."

It is unclear whether Khachaturyan, who remains a close ally of the Kremlin despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, will join other world leaders at the Queen's funeral on September 19. 

Putin himself was not invited amid the near-total collapse of Russia-UK relations amid the war in Ukraine.